Page 44 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
And then walked around the house? Because those footprints didn’t leave, they just circled around.
“Hang tight, baby. Mads is just checking something out,” she said.
All she could think of was Mads’ creepy uncle and how uneasy he made her feel when she was stuck on the side of the road. She knew those were his footprints in the snow, but the part of her conditioned to be nice and give people the benefit of the doubt pushed those concerns away.
She recognized that if this was a movie, she’d be yelling at the stupid character for ignoring their gut and going back into the house when the killer was obviously hiding inside. Those people always ended up dead and that was the opposite of how Odessa wanted her evening to go.
Chances are, it was more likely to be a wolf or a lynx prowling around the house than a burglar, but those sure did look like boot prints.
Swallowing her pride, she reached for her cellphone, prepared to call the cops.
“Mommy? I don’t like this,” Ruby said, her voice trembling.
“Everything’s okay, baby.” She climbed out of the car, disgusted at the way she lied to Ruby. Quickly, she opened the back door and unfastened Ruby from her booster seat. Ruby had a growth spurt recently and would soon be too tall for the booster. Her dark eyes held a vulnerable expression, reminding Odessa that her goblin might be physically big but she was still just seven.
“Don’t let go of my hand, okay?”
Ruby nodded, holding tight.
Mads jogged up, took one look at Odessa’s face, then the open garage, and said, “The perimeter is secure. I’ll go inside now.” He crouched down, eye-level with Ruby. “I need you to stay here with your mother.”
“I don’t like this,” she whispered. “I want to go to Grandma’s.”
Odessa squeezed Ruby’s hand. “Soon, baby. Mads will be quick and we’ll have pizza for dinner.”
Ruby wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist and buried her face against Odessa, hidden by the wool coat. “I don’t want pizza,” she muttered.
His hand touched Odessa’s shoulder and he paused, unsure if he wanted to hug her or impart words of reassurance. “Stay here,” he said, which did not reassure her at all.
Mads
Odessa unlocked thefront door and moved back to the driveway, her calf clinging to her the entire time.
Just inside the doorway, he looked to the left and then the right, and smiled when he saw the baseball bat leaning against the wall. He remembered the bat always kept at the Muller house entrance, kept in case of intruders. The charmingly low-tech home security system made him smile. Humans were inventive.
He held the bat loosely at his side, ready to strike if needed. He listened but heard nothing out of the ordinary, just the background noises of appliances and the rattle of the heating system. Moving silently, he cleared each room.
Someone had been in the house. A stench of a heavy cologne lingered in the air. A human nose might not have detected the odor, but it was pungent to him and disguised the intruder’s true scent.
The backdoor had not been forced but he did find a window ajar. With a frown, he closed the window properly and latched it. Carefully, he checked all the windows but found them secure. Other than the open window, he could not find anything obviously out of place, damaged, or tampered with. It was as if someone had walked through the house just because they could. Finishing his patrol, he exited to the garage.
“Is this door meant to be unlocked?” he asked.
“I never bother locking it,” Odessa replied. The color drained from her face. “That’s pretty dumb of me, I guess.”
“Most garage doors open remotely with devices that use the same frequency. One key can unlock many doors.”
“Is that what happened?”
Prepared to explain about the open window in the living room, he saw the distress on Ruby’s face. The calf needed to feel safe in her home and not worry about strangers climbing through windows. “No,” he said, giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I think your arrival scared them off.”
Odessa’s brow knitted together as if in confusion, but she held her questions. “Will you stay for dinner?”
Gladly, he accepted the invitation, not wanting to leave Odessa and Ruby alone. He’d stand guard all night if that allowed his mate and calf to rest easier.
“Ruby, can you help Mads get the pizza from the freezer? I’ll move the car in the garage,” she said, leaving him alone with the calf.
Ruby grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him inside.
